This 'Macbeth' depends on the power of 3

Preview

With those words from the weird sisters, or witches, Shakespeare's look at bloody ambition — Macbeth — begins.

For the three performers in Mad Cow Theatre's production, opening tonight, there's a practical answer to the question: They will meet in every scene. That's because in this Macbeth the trio will play every part.

"It's big," says actor Bobbie Bell, who will be joined onstage by Michael Sapp and Sophia Wise. "You know how actors talk about their motivation? My motivation is abject terror."

Macbeth is a play full of soldiers, banqueters, lords, ladies and servants. So why did director Alan Bruun think of a three-person cast?

"I started with the idea of the three witches," Bruun says. "They conjure the play. I thought, 'Well, what if they were the play?' What if the spirit of all these characters simply entered them?"

The notion of doing stripped-down Shakespeare is referred to as "Chamber Shakespeare," analogous to chamber-music recitals, when a full orchestra is not employed.

In the cast of Macbeth, Bruun thinks discarding elaborate costumes, scenery and supporting actors helps the audience to focus on Shakespeare's words — and the meaning behind them.

Bell agrees.

"There's something about Shakespeare when all you have is the actors and the stage and the words that clarifies," he says.

And the idea has precedent.

"People used to say, 'We went to hear a play, not see a play,'" Bruun says. "So it was the ears that were engaged first, not the eyes."

The actors "share" the characters — so in one scene Bell might be Macbeth, in another scene it might be Wise. For Macbeth, there is a progression to who's reading his lines that matches the Scottish lord's descent.

"The qualities of Macbeth change," says Bell, who chairs the humanities department at Seminole State College. "He starts the play as a hero. Then, there's a psychological progression. Once Macbeth starts murdering he's like a serial killer.

"The fact that three actors take on Macbeth in these different stages … hopefully, the audience will be able to follow it."

Bruun has faith that if the audience is momentarily confused, the ambience will quickly clarify things.

"There is a sense of isolation in the piece. Something like Macbeth — it's dark, it's close — we can accentuate those qualities. We're certainly trying to mine that in that small space. For me, it's a very claustrophobic play."

Macbeth will be staged in Mad Cow's smaller theater, Stage Right. The actors will perform in the center of the room, with the audience surrounding them on three sides, making the production even more in-your-face.

"I like messing with the audience's notion of a theater experience," Bruun says.

Also helping the audience follow will be the relative simplicity of Macbeth's story: Ambition to be king goes to a man's head. Pushed on by his wife, he goes on a killing spree that leads to their doom.

"There is no secondary plot. It's just about this bloody couple," Bruun says.

Bruun has trimmed the play a bit; it will run about 100 minutes with no intermission. But there's still a lot of dialogue for the actors to learn: Each will be responsible for roughly a third of the show, after all.

Bell, who has worked on more than 20 Shakespeare productions, speaks for 21 different characters. He has a color-coding system to keep them all straight as he prepares.

"It looks like a child has gone through my script," he says, laughing. "Macbeth, of course, is red … for blood."